Tech help general

[Paco]

DirectX 9.0c was released in summer of 2004, that's less than nine years ago.
Sounds good for the time, but a single-core processor probably isn't running many games today, is it? What's the last game you've been able to play reasonably well with that?

[Madican]

Yeah, I did an upgrade. Purchased this computer in late 2002-early 2003.

And of course it isn't. That's kind of been my point. And reasonably well? Diablo II without stuttering. I'd say World of Warcraft but that did crash every so often and it needed to be on lowest of low settings.

[Paco]

Diablo II was released in 2000, before you bought your computer...

Oh, I'm sorry, I misunderstood what you said. I thought you meant that your old computer could run modernish games as proof that you could keep a brand-new computer for a long time. My bad.
I did have a LOT of games to play once I built this computer, my previous one was a Windows Vista laptop, pretty crappy, best it could run was Audiosurf at the lowest settings and it overheated playing Half-Life.

[Madican]

World of Warcraft then. Ran it fine when it released, system hasn't aged well.

Lemme see if I have a newer game around. Oblivion runs, on lowest settings, but it crashes constantly due to the video card.

[YCobb]

Wait Madican, aside from graphics card that doesn't look bad at all.
2.9 ghz Quad Core, 3 gig RAM?
Aside from the graphics card, it seems pretty fast.

[Paco]

It's not quad-core, it's a Pentium 4, lol.

[Zorinth]

I was thinking it didn't look to bad, but sometimes good looking computers run slow.
My old computer was bad. The only stat I can really remember was 512mb ram.

[Madican]

I honestly can't tell if it's fast due to the graphics card. Sad thing is it's the best one for PCI, which they don't even MAKE cards for anymore. It's like the floppy disk drive; familiar but not something to be used.

A couple years ago I added the RAM though.

[Paco]

PCI slots are still used quite a lot. Just not for graphics cards. At least it's better than AGP... I think.

[Madican]

Isn't PCI-E the thing nowadays?

To be completely honest I want a computer that can run everything there is today and will run games for a couple years down the line at any setting low or otherwise. I honestly don't mind low graphics and such when there's awesome gameplay to be had. Otherwise I'd never be able to play Morrowind.

[Zang]

but anyway

this is my goal.

you think this will run skyrim and games like it smoothly? while livestreaming? and skyping? and making little light flickers and shit to make it look cool?

basically I want the overkill

then I'll be the man. it'll be me.

[Zorinth]

I finally stopped using floppy discs when I got my laptop. My personal computer, not the one with 512mb ram, was a windows 98 SE with no internet connection or Microsoft office programs. Its only uses for me were to play halo on the lowest setting and use notepad to write essays at 1 am that were due the next day. since I didn't have any other way to move information(USB 2.0 didn't work with it) I had to use a floppy. Since no computers now have floppy readers I had to use a portable floppy reader that connected via usb to any computer. I actually had someone ask me what the strange thing I was using was, they had no idea what a floppy disc was. How do you not know what a floppy disc is?

[Paco]

Isn't PCI-E the thing nowadays?

To be completely honest I want a computer that can run everything there is today and will run games for a couple years down the line at any setting low or otherwise. I honestly don't mind low graphics and such when there's awesome gameplay to be had. Otherwise I'd never be able to play Morrowind.

Yeah, PCI-E (x16) is the new standard for graphics cards, but since network adapters (for wireless Internet) and many other peripherals don't require as much power, they are made to fit simple PCI slots, which is why one thing to look for in a motherboard is the number of PCI slots.

You don't need to spend a tonne of cheddar to get a good computer, if you're willing to recycle your monitor, mouse and keyboard, stuff like that, you'll save a good amount of cheddar too (but if you still have a CRT screen do upgrade that). The computer I last built cost me eight hundred and something dollars, but that's including the Windows license, the monitor, the mouse, the keyboard, the case and all. These cost over $300 alone.

[Zorinth]

how do you save the windows licence? never really looked into that.

[Paco]

Save? what
You buy an OEM Window installation disc and it comes with a license and the code to register your copy of Windows. Easy enough. That, or if you're in a computer science university program you might get the license for free.